Of Hoods and Crowns
by Sigmu
Summary: Daring realizes that he's attracted to Cadmium Hood after a beast slaying gone wrong. One-shot, Warning: yaoi, and gender bending. Gender-bent darise and rapple.


A/n: Just a weird AU concept that popped into my head; where the Headmaster is Raven's grandfather, the Evil Queen never went psycho on anyone, Cerise and Apple are male, Danny and Hannah are female! Dexter and Hunter, and Daring is having confused gay feelings for Cadmium (male! Cerise).

I had difficulties coming up a name for male! Apple so I researched some names for different kinds of apples.

Here were my three top candidates;

Almata

King Apple

Russet

Almata ended up winning in the extensive contest in my head (after closing my eyes and doing a quick eenie, meanie, minie, moe) it's an apple that's kind of the size of a small cherry, they use it to make this delicious pinkish-amber apple jelly.

XXX

Daring stared transfixed up at bright glowing golden eyes.

"Are you alright?" Cadmium Hood's low voice grumbled out, he bent his head close to Daring's neck to give him a good sniff the combination of the other's closeness and the humid heat coming from the hooded boy's breath making Daring shiver from the unusually pleasant thrill that ran down his spine. "I smell blood, where are you hurt?" The low voice whispered into Daring's skin.

The prince opened his mouth but found that he had trouble speaking; he could see one of those hypnotizing golden eyes regarding him intensely from the corner of his, Daring tried speaking again but a whoosh of breath from an exasperated sigh brushed his sensitive ear an all the prince could find himself doing was blush and squeak in a very non-princely manner.

"Right…" Cadmium huffed bringing his large hands up to feel the prince's torso over for aches and pains, startled Daring realized that his crown had fallen off sometime during the scuffle earlier.

"What were you thinking?" Cadmium demanded ignoring how the prince squeaked and squirmed in his hands. "Trying to pick a fight with a wild _Fachan_? I know that all you princely heroes hear it's more common name _Peg-Leg-Jack_ and that makes you all snicker about like the prestigious morons a lot of you are but seriously? That thing could have killed you; there is a reason why the Headmaster issued an order for everyone to stay in their dorms until that bugger was caught!"

As if in response to the hooded boy's words the creature that Cadmium had subdued earlier made a pained groan and tried to get up.

Whipping around with surprising speed Cadmium whacked the creature over the head with his fist. "Stay down!" The hooded boy growled to his newly unconscious victim.

Daring bit his lip and tried to force his heart to not flutter at the way Cadmium Hood was crouched protectively in front of him or the way the boy's growls made Daring want to… swoon…

"Charming Princes are supposed to be able to defeat any foe they come across." Daring mumbled miserably as he tried to stand up, he yelped when his injured foot gave out and he would have fallen to the ground if Cadmium were not there to catch him.

"Charming Princes are able to defeat their enemies because they use their smarts rather than their mortal delicate fleshy bodies to go about it." Cadmium sighed; Daring could tell the other was feeling like he was talking to a child. He would have protested but the radiating heat and the... the spicy musk that came from the taller boy was so inviting and the way the other's strong arms flexed around him made Daring curiously weak at the knees.

Cadmium perked his head up his expression focused. "They're coming, let's get out of here before we get into trouble."

Before Daring could ask how Cadmium was able to know whether or not anybody was coming when Daring couldn't hear anything, the prince found himself being picked up effortlessly like a maiden into the larger boy's arms and then the world became a fast blur of wind and colors.

"Aeeeh…ha?" Daring strangled softly out of his mouth when in the next moment he found the two of them standing in front of his and Almata White's dorm room, which was a miracle in of itself because the vocal cords in his neck felt like they had clenched so tightly that no sound should have been able to escape.

"Sorry." Cadmium murmured in his maddeningly low way after he had somehow managed to fumble the door open (Almata must have left it unlocked again) and let them both in. "Normally I wouldn't run that fast with someone in my arms but i really would rather not having to explain to my mom, who is apart of that beast control group, why we were out there." The hooded boy gently snaked his powerful paw of a hand protectively over Daring's face and head, guiding the prince to rest his head onto his shoulder so that he felt safe and could calm down from his shock.

With an almost pained expression Daring found himself relaxing against an impossibly warm broad shoulder and guiltily sliding his hand up the other's muscled chest to cling around a strong neck, and completely, without his conscious permission, Daring breathed deep that spicy musk that was nearly intoxicating to be so close to.

"Let's see the damage shall we?" Cadmium moved to set Daring down onto his bed with the prince's legs hanging over the side.

Daring's entire body flushed when Cadmium slowly leaned down over his legs, gently prodding them with exploratory touches that sent shots of pleasant electricity up Daring's spine until the hooded boy (though Daring had an overwhelming urge to think of Cadmium as a man even though Daring was several months older) got to his right ankle.

"Ouch!" Daring yelped almost relieved for a distraction, but then he quickly sat up with sudden alarm when he realized that as the other had been examining his legs Daring had been slowly leaning back as his thoughts clouded over- grabbing one of his decorative bed pillows and hugged it, covering the front of his groin as he did, relieved that Cadmium had not seemed to have noticed anything odd as the hooded boy prodded his aching foot.

"You alright?" Cadmium peered up at him as he worked Daring's shredded muddy shoe off.

"Never better!" Daring assured with a tight smile, looking away from the other and trying to think about other things, his little sisters Danny and Darling, Almata's off tune singing, baby bunnies, anything really to keep his mind off the fact that Cadmium was kneeling between his legs and holding his foot out-

" _Godsdamned_." Cadmium growled as he surveyed Daring's foot, the creature from earlier had used its claws to slice through Daring's shoe and left behind some pretty mean looking gashes that had been covered by the mud. "We need to get to the shower."

"Uh?" Daring asked nervously, because shower usually meant naked and a naked Cadmium would be-

"Oh good Almata's coming, he can wrangle you in to clean your foot and put on some new clothes while I go get Raven, she'll know how to patch you up." The hooded boy looked up towards the door as he fished around his cloak's inner pockets for a cloth handkerchief.

The larger boy paused as he glanced over by the other bed in the room.

"Why does Almata have a picture of Raven by his bed?" Cadmium asked sounding a little disturbed. "Isn't he supposed to marry your sister Darling?"

"Almata admires Raven and her future role as the Evil Queen in his story." Daring coughed, pained when Cadmium firmly covered his bleeding foot with the handkerchief. "Though half the time he talks about her it almost seems like he's the one who wants to get poisoned by Raven, which is… admittedly ironic considering Darling does not want to become Snow White or end up marrying him. I think he's a little sore that he was born male and therefore can't take his mother's role."

"I hope for his sake its just admiration." Cadmium muttered with a snort. "Somehow I don't think that overprotective Headmaster Grimm would be too keen on any boy making moony eyes at his eldest granddaughter…

"For what it's worth Darling has told me that Raven is under the impression that Almata is gay." Daring supplied.

"Speaking of which…" Cadmium trailed off as muffled voices came through the opening door.

"For the last time Almata, I'm perfectly safe in the girl's dorm and I could have just as easily walked here you know." Raven sighed tiredly as both she and the mentioned prince traveled the short hallway and into the room. "My grandfather will have a fit if he ever found out you convinced me to stay over for the night, no matter how platonic all this actually is or how many times my mother swears to the heavens and back while snickering to herself that most princes she meets have to be secretly gay."

"But Peg-Leg-Jack would be more likely to try to get into the girls dorms." Almata argued. "You're my story's villain Raven, how can I possibly sleep well at night if you are in danger of being accosted by such a fowl beast… and at any rate didn't you say the other day that your mother accused your father of being gay on a regular basis?"

Raven rubbed her temple with her fingers. "That's more of an inside joke between the two of them, and an ongoing charade they are presenting to my grandfather, aside from that one hook-up where I was conceived based on some sort of dare they had given each other while drunk, they are really just the best of friends, and _only_ friends, my mama just tells my grandfather that papa is gay because he had gotten all bent out of shape that my mother was pregnant and unwed so she, being her normal twisted self, told him that little lie to keep him from killing papa."

"I thought that the Headmaster and your grandmother hadn't married for years after the Evil Queen was born?" Almata asked as he set Raven down onto his bed and removed her cloak to hang up in his closet, gently moving the witch's hands back down every time she tried to unclasp the garment herself.

"It's was more of an excuse for grandfather to try to kill papa for daring to lay a finger on his adult first born little girl, Grandmother is still laughing about that whole situation." Raven huffed in annoyance as the prince bent down to take off her shoes. "But back on point; why did you whisk me, the villain of your story, away to "safety" and leave your future wife back in our dorm?"

"Raven." Almata said seriously cradling the witch's head almost reverently in his hands. "Darling once brought a full grown wyvern to its knees with nothing but a sword, some rope, and a very scary affinity with hacking down trees nearly as fast as Hannah Huntsman."

"Touché." Raven allowed with a nod.

From his side of the room Daring swelled up with pride at the mention of his littlest sister's accomplishment.

"If you two are done." Cadmium drawled making the witch and the other blonde prince jump. "I'd like some help here."

"Oh my gosh, Daring what happened?" Raven asked as she rushed over to Daring's side.

Daring noticed while Raven began barking out orders to get his soiled pants off while she got Almata's first aid kit (which was well stocked since Almata always came prepared for everything, and he kept asking Raven to make different kinds of potions for him as an excuse to hang out with her more) and some water, Cadmium obediently obliging in stripping Daring of his trousers (much to the prince's mortification) that the other blonde prince seemed to want nothing but to stare mournfully at his empty hands, completely oblivious to Daring's embarrassing predicament and to his injured foot.

Fine, Daring mentally sniffed, he had been planning on correcting Raven's incorrect assumption about Almata being gay… but since he wasn't so much as giving Daring a second glance…

"Oh please Daring." Raven rolled her eyes, focusing her magic on Daring's foot to keep pressure on the bleeding. "My father's kingdom has bathhouses that allow both genders to bath in the same pool, I'm not going to care about seeing you in your boxers."

"You've been exposed to the sight of an unclothed man?" Almata looked up in alarm.

"It's not you I'm shy about seeing me without my trousers on." Daring half lied, pointedly trying to not look at Cadmium as the hooded boy freed one of his struggling feet from the denim cloth of his pants. "I have nothing against it… but I just don't want things to get… _awkward_ … with a certain _somebody_ …"

"Oh." Raven said, briefly looking over her shoulder at Almata. "Well I'm sure that if was awkward for him he'd look away." She assured, handing Cadmium some pajama pants (when had she even gotten those?) for Cadmium to help him into.

"Who'd look away?" Almata asked completely confused.

Ignoring the prince Raven motioned to a prone Daring. "Come on, show me that foot."

After the witch had cleaned and bandaged Daring's foot, and after Cadmium had explained everything that had happened, Daring was subjected to a thorough scolding from the witch and Almata was given an elbow to the side when he declared that he would have taken on any beast that dared threaten the school.

"Don't ever think about scaring me like that!" Raven snapped. "I care way too much about you for you to go and do that! I'd be devastated if you ended up as something's meal!"

"You would?" Almata asked, nearly swooning.

"Well yeah, you're my friend." Raven stated as if it should have been obvious. "At any rate, it's late, Daring needs sleep and to keep that foot elevated, and I think that I'll stay in Cadmium's room for the night since I don't want to be caught sneaking back after curfew."

"You… what?" Almata twitched.

"Do you mind?" The witch asked her hooded friend.

"Sure thing." Cadmium shrugged. "Actually why don't you call your grandfather and tell him that you're staying in my room so that he knows where you are."

"Why would her staying in your room be more okay than mine?" Almata demanded heatedly.

"One, because I'm gay and the Headmaster knows it, two, I have no roommate." Cadmium gathered Raven into his arms, situating her to sit daintily in the crook of his elbow (which was an impressive feat, once again Daring marveled at how strong the hooded boy was). "And three, our mothers are best friends, we've known each other since she was a tiny day-old pup, little Raven here is like one of my favorite unofficially-adopted little sisters."

At this Cadmium gives Almata a feral toothy grin. "The Headmaster knows that I have just as much reason to be protective of my sister as he is his granddaughter, and for that I predict that he will have no problems with her staying with me for the night."

Almata flinched back, having no troubles recognizing the knowing protective glint in the taller boy's grey eyes (Daring did a double take, he could have sworn those eyes had been a glowing gold color).

"I'll get my shoes and cloak tomorrow before breakfast Almata." Raven called as Cadmium carried her out. "Have a good night!"

Almata stared after her mournfully.

"Good luck with that one my man." Daring chuckled smugly as he took off his shirt and crawled under his covers. "Every potential suitor knows that Raven Queen is the one princess in all of Ever After that is guarded better than any maiden locked in a tower."

Almata sputtered blushing red. "How do you know I like Raven? I haven't told anybody!"

"You tend to sing her praises while you take your hour-long shower, and while you are on the balcony feeding your birds." Daring grumbled, taking one of his pillows and situating it under his foot. "Loudly mind you, half the boy's dorms have heard you by now, but because your singing voice is different from your speaking voice no one knows who has it that bad for the Headmaster's granddaughter."

"How embarrassing…" Almata covered his face in his hands.

Daring couldn't help but think about Cadmium and the way his eyes seemed to switch from intense gray to ravaging gold, and how the taller boy felt as his strong arms encompassed Daring with their radiating warmth and how Daring's hand had felt out the contours of well cut muscle beneath the other's red shirt-

"Indeed." Daring mumbled weakly, pulling his blankets over his head.


End file.
